


Faking It

by lesbianferrissbueller



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bets & Wagers, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, High School, Homecoming, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mistaken Identity, On Hiatus, Recreational Drug Use, gen z humor, little to know homophobia cause i said, or an improving one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:07:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24301855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianferrissbueller/pseuds/lesbianferrissbueller
Summary: Due to a classic case of mistaken identity, Steve and Billy find themselves having to fool the whole of Hawkins High into thinking they're an item for the duration of four weeks. A lot can change over the course of a month though, and by the end of it, some of their couple-y behaviors might not be entirely for show.Feat. as much Gen Z culture as possible.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley/Heather Holloway (background)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 105





	Faking It

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer, i may never finish this, but as of now i really fucking wanna cause like. hell yeah.  
> I did low homophobia because i think these boy shave enough going on and i wanted to wedge as many queer kids in this fic as fucking possible and have them be happy, or at least happier. Too many sob stories.  
> On that same note, a personal headcanon of mine is that Carol is a trans girl. That'll get referenced a few times as this story goes on, but thats what the Leviticus reference is about, since it's used against all kinds of lgbt+ people.
> 
> stay golden, pony boys
> 
> playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4lJRtXGTzGjgkSw0rpUoj9?si=vv58HW0NTHqrv6f61KhHoA
> 
> pin board: https://pin.it/cqIBAgu

Steve forgot he even  _ had  _ a Snapchat. ‘Cause of that thing where you make one when you’re like, in the 8th grade just cause all your friends have one and then you know your username so you can get people to add you and then eventually delete the app so you can get  _ Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp _ and then forget you have one until it’s 6am on a Sunday and your best friend won’t stop texting you to “LOOK AT YOUR SNAPCHAT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.”

Daddy Robin: STEVE

Daddy Robin: STEVEN

Daddy Robin: STEVE I SWEAR TO ALL FUCK

dingus.jpeg: bro its 6am

Daddy Robin: YOU NEED TO REDOWNLOAD UR SNAP RIGHT N O W

dingus.jpeg: why

Daddy Robin: this is serious

Ok the lack of caps got Steve, he hopped on the App Store to redownload his Snapchat, remembered his password on the third try, and-

Notifications started flooding in. 

He guessed maybe it was because he hadn’t been on in so long?

It was not. 

It was some grainy video from a few hours ago, of- gross- Billy Hargrove sucking face with some guy at one of the parties Steve didn't get invited to anymore. 

16 different people sent him the video. 

_ “Holy shit man” _ and-

_ “Harrington oh my god” _ and-

_ “STEVE wHAT THE HELL” _ \- that one was Robin.

And most alarming:

_ “Steve is that you?” _

Oh my god. They thought it was him.

Everyone he had ever known was furiously asking him why - dear god, why- he made out with Billy Hargrove at a house party last night.

Steve said “jesus christ” out loud in utter  _ something- _ something like disbelief and anger and confusion. 

Because never in his life had he EVER kissed his sworn enemy of two years.

He hadn't even BEEN at that party. 

Who was that guy?

heather chandler: billy

heather chandler: what the hell man

king crackwhore: what

heather chandler: you’re a fucking chaos slut, that’s what

king crackwhore: thank u, but what r u talking about

heather chandler:  _ Attachment: 1 Video _

king crackwhore: oh lmao yeah i'm very hungover

heather chandler: so we’re just gonna gloss over /who/ it is ur sucking face with?

king crackwhore: why do you know him or something

king crackwhore: is this like that time i accidentally fucked ur cousin

heather chandler: are u seriously asking me if i know who Steve Harrington is????????

Billy dropped his phone.

On Monday, everyone was talking about the video- everyone had seen it by then. People were doing the teenage classic whispering and staring until you got close and they’d fall silent and Steve was ready to scream. 

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Steve groaned, sitting across from Robin at lunch. “This is a fucking nightmare come to life.”

“Want me to slap you?” Robin was licking the hot cheeto dust off her fingers. 

“No,” Steve sighed. “Maybe. But no. This is just so fucking crazy, why are so many people buying it?”

“I mean, it’s not that crazy.”

“What? It’s-” Steve laughed in disbelief. “Billy and me- We  _ hate _ each other, Robin.”

“Yeah, but like, people think it’s that thing where your burning hatred for each other was a psychological front for deeply repressed attraction which bubbled over while you were both drunk at a party and you ended up hooking up.”

Steve looked at her blankly. 

“It’s a thing.” Robin nodded sagely. “Haven’t you seen movies? Or read fanfiction?”

“The only fanfiction I’ve ever read was that Riverdale lesbians stuff you forced me to read so you could talk about it with someone.”

“And now it’s canon,” Robin sighed happily. “But yeah. Everyone thinks you guys hooked up.”

“I- I can’t. I can’t even talk about this. I should leave. I should go home, right?”

“You can’t go home, because then I’ll be alone and I’ll die of boredom. Don’t be selfish.”

“Oh my god people won’t stop staring at me.” Steve turned back from surveying the cafeteria to let his head slide from his hands to between his elbows, forehead on table. 

Steve felt Robin patting his head. “Poor little Stevie.”

“Stop patting me.” Steve swatted her hand away, lifted his head back up. 

“It’ll probably die out in a week or two.” Robin tried. 

“That’s way too long for people to think this shit.” Steve resolved. “I’ll talk to him. Tell him to, clear my name or whatever.”

“You don’t think he started this rumor?”

Billy did indeed kiss someone the night before the video of it spread like wildfire- and it was _not_ Steve. It was some guy Billy didn’t even remember the name of who, in a grainy snapchat taken at 2am, looked an awful lot like the Disgraced King Steve, but went to a school _two_ _entire_ _towns_ over, so Billy had no way of proving it wasn't Steve, just “Heather- Heather no, I wouldn’t- of fucking course I would tell you-” chasing her quick steps-

“I don’t believe you-” Heather kept cutting between his words, walking down the main hall at lunch. “I- No, I don’t believe you.”

“Would I lie to you, baby?” Billy tried, cutting in front of her.

“Yes. You have. Many times.” She walked around him. 

“I did not make out with Steve Harrington.” God, Billy sounded like that guy in  _ The Room _ . “The very thought gives me acid reflux.”

“Everything gives you acid reflux because you eat like shit.”

“Bold words from someone on her third juice cleanse of the semester-”

“You wanna talk body image issues? We can talk.” Heather jabbed her pointer finger into Billy’s abs. 

“Heather, listen to me,” Billy grabbed her hand away. “I did not-”

“Hey, man!” Someone called across the hall to Billy. “Fucking savage bagging Harrington like that-”

“No,” Billy’s brow furrowed farther. “That wasn’t-”

“Billy.”

Billy turned fully around at his name- he recognized the voice. 

Steve Harrington, in all his color-block windbreaker glory, glasses atop his head and phone gripped tight in his hand, was staring at him from less than three feet away. 

“We need to talk.” Steve sounded more pissed that Billy had ever seen him- very impressive honestly, but christ he didn't want to be dealing with this right now.   
Heather gasped audibly. “Oh boy, someone’s in trouble,” she whispered to Billy.    
“Can you shut the fuck up maybe.” Billy muttered before approaching Steve.   
“Hey man, look-” Billy started, but Steve cut him off.

“Nope, come with me.” And before Billy could respond Steve had grabbed his arm and started dragging him to a free classroom a few doors up the hall. 

Billy probably would have struggled more if it wasn't for the tantalizing intrigue of the whole situation. 

“What the hell, man?” Steve rounded on him when they got inside the empty room “Are you telling people we hooked up?”

“Fuck no,” Billy yanked his arm away. “You think I want people spreading this bullshit?”

“So why haven't you done anything- Tell them it was someone else!”

“I’m fucking trying! No one believes me.”

“Try harder!”   
“I don’t remember your stupid look-alike’s name-”

“You don’t even remember his  _ name _ ?”

“He was from like two towns away-”

“Real classy-” 

“Fuck you.” Billy snapped. 

“Woah, ok,” Steve put his hands up. “Calm down, goldilocks-”

“You grip that ‘holier than thou’ attitude real tight, huh, princess? Bitter you're not popular anymore-”

“Beats being a kid whose only personality traits are being gay and being an asshole-”

“Low blow, homophobe. I’d be careful if I was you, don’t want anyone thinking this whole bisexuality thing is a  _ phase- _ ”

The door opened. Both boys shot back from each other. 

Oh, fucking shit. As if this couldn’t be any more incriminating. It was Tina, who gasped, a hand covering this scandalized smile. 

“Oh, my god. Sorry guys, I uh, I thought this classroom was empty,” she giggled.

“Tina, wait,” Steve tried, pushing past the desks to try to get to her.   
“No, no, I’ll go.” 

“This is  _ not  _ what it looks like-”

“Don’t worry about it, Steve.” Tina giggled again, then left. 

“Shit.” Billy muttered. 

The end-of-lunch bell rang. 

Before Steve could stop him, Billy bailed. 

As soon as Billy got out of the classroom he made his best effort to vanish- god knows he didn't want to talk to Steve Harrington more than he absolutely had to during this whole debacle. 

He looked down at his phone. 

_ 2 New Notifications _

12:55pm - heather chandler: went to class

12:55pm - heather chandler: try not to get lockjaw

1:02pm - king crackwhore: fuck u too

And, oh yeah, he was late to class now too. As if his teachers could hate him any more than they already did- “Mr. Hargrove, thank you for gracing us with your presence” followed up with a “Yeah, my pleasure” that usually got him in some kind of trouble.

But he suffered through class anyway. And got out early with now final period, so he was alone, walking around the back of the school, about to put his headphones in when:

“Hey, Hargrove.” 

Billy turned at the sound of his name. It was Carol, smoking an actual cigarette outside the open window of the girls bathroom. 

“So are you and Harrington like some kind of power couple now?”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Why do you care?”

Carol shrugged. “Seems like the closure we need as a student body I guess.” She smiled a little around her cigarette. 

“Closure?” Billy felt antsy at the smell of the smoke- he’d had to cut back since he moved. All he had was his stupid puff bar that was almost out anyway. Made his head hurt a little.

“Sure. You two are all anybody cares about. Gonna be crazy popular.” Her voice had such a teasing musicality- if anyone could go toe to toe with Billy’s cruelty, it was probably her. 

Billy wasn't going to lie to himself, the phrase ‘crazy popular’ bounced around in his head quite a bit. He tried not to let it. But still. 

“Isn’t there something in the bible about not being a gossip.” He raised an eyebrow.

“There’s also Leviticus.” Carol stubbed out her cigarette. “But neither of us can have shit to say about that.”

“Right.” Billy almost smiled. 

Carol stood, dusted herself off, before swinging her legs back in through the window. “Bye.” She wiggled her fingers before hopping down, disappearing. 

Billy dug the mint puff out of his backpack before walking the rest of the way to his car. 

After the  _ incident _ in the empty french classroom, Steve tried to chase after Billy and pin him down again, force him to, I don't know,  _ charisma _ his way out of the situation. 

But Billy had quickly disappeared.

“Shit.” Steve mumbled. 

He looked at his phone. 

_ 1 New Notification _

12:52pm - Daddy Robin: went to class! love u!

1:02pm - dingus.jpeg: Love you too

1:03pm - dingus.jpeg: Can I talk to you after class

2:10pm - Daddy Robin: sure I just got out. you ok?

Steve told Robin about the conversation in the classroom and Tina’s sudden appearance- which Robin laughed at - over drive-thru. 

“I thought things were less serious between you and Billy anyways.” Robin was emptying a ketchup packet onto her fries. 

“I thought so too, he barely did anything end of last year, and all through summer. But I dunno, since yesterday, I just think he still has it out for me.”

“Hm.” Robin said helpfully, mouthful of fries. 

“Do you think this is gonna blow over soon?’

“No idea. That thing with Tina sounds pretty bad.” 

Steve groaned, let his head fall against his steering wheel. “I hate this.”

“Hey, look on the bright side,” Robin took a sip of Steve’s soda. “At least people will finally move past the whole you and Nancy thing.”

“People at this school can’t let shit go.” Steve mumbled. 

Robin laughed. “That is true.” 

Billy was smoking contemplatively in his car for most of last period. The mint-y smell focused him, or he liked to think. 

He just kept thinking about what carol had said. 

Not because he liked the idea of people thinking he was with Steve, way in the back of his head, no. 

It was probably about the popularity thing.

Honestly he was popular enough.

Most people knew at least  _ of _ him.

But since what happened over the summer, it had seemed more like… dunno, Max always said ‘sympathy’ but it felt a lot more like pity. 

Billy didn’t like pity popularity, he liked clout. For people to worship him- just a little.

It wasn't like he’d ever so much as  _ consider _ going out with Steve. He just, you know, entertained the idea for a bit. 

Maybe for like… old times sake on his part.

And most of the shit with Steve had fallen by the wayside during… summer again. 

They just haven't talked in a while. 

But judging by yesterday, Steve still didn't particularly care for him.

A sharp rap on the window pulled Billy from his thoughts. 

“Unlock the door!” He heard Max yell. 

“Shit,” Billy mumbled, shoving the mint puff deep in his pocket before leaning over to unlock the passenger door. 

“Thought you were gonna skate back with your friends today.” He said. 

“I wanted to ride with you.” She pushed her skateboard into the gap between the passenger seat and the dash. 

He tried not to smile. 

“Can I pick the music?” She reached for the AUX adapter. 

“Hell no.” He slapped her hand away. “I know you’re just gonna play your indie bullshit again.”

“It’s cool music, Billy.”

“It’s Tik Tok shit.”

“Tik Tok is cool now!”

“No, it’s not.”

Billy was about to start his car up when Max spoke again.

“The social worker sent us an email.”

“I saw.” Billy said, flat.

“She wants us to call. About the free therapy thing, once the paperwork goes through.”

Billy just raised his eyebrows, quick.

“C’mon, Billy, it’s free.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn't go.” Billy grumbled. “I just think it’s stupid. Lawsuit’s over, anyway.”

“You could just come with me.” She offered.

“Yeah, maybe.” Billy studied the wear of his hands on his steering wheel. “Talk about something else.”

Max obliged, talked about her science project and what she and El had talked about at lunch. 

And not the lawsuit. Or social workers or therapy or anything to do with why they’d been staying at the Byer’s house for the past couple months, and probably would be at least for the rest of the school year. At least Joyce and Hopper weren’t ‘unfit parents,’ even if they were kind of strict. They were nice. 

Billy was tempted to hit his puff a couple more times before going inside when they got there- he wasn't supposed to smoke on the premises.

But he hated to do it in front of Max.

Once he got inside, interacted with other members of the household to the bare minimum, and hid out in his room in the garage, he pulled out his phone. 

king crackwhore: wyd 

heather chandler: u text like a fuckboy

king crackwhore: i am a fuckboy ;)

heather chandler: U wish

king crackwhore: ;(

Billy hated having to tell Joyce where he went and what he did. Of course, he usually lied, but he always had this feeling that she knew he was lying? And he hated the idea that she cared enough to like,  _ probe _ , like that.

So when he stopped by the living room to go ‘hey i was gonna go to heather’s for a bit,’ and she smiled at him and went ‘have fun’ he hated it. He wasn't even lying that time. He just… 

If he didn't hate it, he would have to think about how much worse it was that he’d never gotten that before. And hating things is easier than hurting- fact of life. 

Probably in a nature documentary somewhere.

Heather’s mom answered the door to their stupid-massive house. Billy hated that too, because Heather’s mom knew exactly what had happened over the summer because she had payed for his fucking lawyer. 

Because Heather convinced her to. Because Heather and, by proxy, Heather's mom really cared what happened to Billy. 

Billy really seriously wished no one cared about him at all sometimes. 

“He-y!” Heather called all sing-song from the top of the main staircase, walking down. 

“He-y,” Billy mimicked half-assedly. 

“You ok?” Heather grabbed his hand when she got to him, started pulling him upstairs. 

Billy just laughed.

He’d texted Heather cause he didn't want to be alone. Which was obviously in direct conflict with ‘not wanting anyone to care about him’ thing. But everything in his head was in direct conflict these days. 

The war between getting better or staying in charted territory. 

He was thinking too much, though. Just because Max had brought up the stupid thing about the therapy. 

He told Heather about it. Laying on her bedroom floor, staring at her pink- yes, pink- ceiling, hitting her equally pink dab pen. 

“I mean, I know you hate talking about your feelings,” Heather was trying. “Because it doesn't fit your vibe, or whatever. But I really like going to therapy.”   
“‘Cause you’re a girl.”

“Yes. You’re Right. I like going to therapy because I am a Woman.”   
“I’m glad we cleared this up.”

“Oh my god,  _ Billy _ .”

“Oh my god,  _ what _ ?” He parroted. 

Heather rolled onto her elbows, leaned over him. “You have to open up to somebody sometime or you’ll fucking explode. You know you will.”

“Whatever.”

“You don’t even talk to me! For example, this whole thing with Steve-”

“We’re not talking about this,” Billy pushed her back, sat up. 

“I just mean you can tell me stuff-”

“There is nothing to tell!”

“Oh,  _ sure- _ ”

“Why are you so  _ convinced- _ ”

“You don't tell me stuff anymore!” 

“What would you do if we  _ were _ together?”

“Nothing I guess,” Heather shrugged “I just want you to talk to me.”

Billy shot her a look. 

She tried to lighten the mood, her tone more teasing. “Wait for it to be over maybe.”

But the joke didn't land. “What do you mean, ‘wait for it to be over’?” Billy turned. 

Heather looked at him, rolled her eyes at how suddenly offended he was. “Come on, Billy. I’m not trying to piss you off or anything, you’re just, you know, not exactly the most committed person-”

“Wow. Really? Wow. Coming from you-”

“Do not call me a slut. If you call me a slut I will actually be mad-”

“I’m actually mad!”

“No you're not, you're just generally pissy-”   
“It’s- it’s un-fucking-fair,” Billy might actually be mad now. “Of you, to sit there and just, just say shit like-”

“How did the last one end. With, you know, what's-his-name. Murphy.”

“I broke it off.” Billy crossed his legs. 

“After how long?”

“Ten days, but that was a unique situation-”

“Ah yes, and the eight boys before that were also, equally unique situations.”

“Fuck you-”

“This is what i was trying to avoid!-”

“So fucking high and mighty-”

“Listen, you can be pissy as you want once you hold on to a boy for more than two weeks.”

“I could do that easy-”   
“What about a month?”

“Sure, yes, I could date the same guy for a full month-”

“Wanna bet?”

Billy realized, very suddenly, the gravity of the situation he’d talked himself into in under two minutes, but, even as he tried to hold himself back, knew that there was no stopping his dumb shit pride when it got going. “Yeah I want a fucking bet.”

“Great. Four hundred dollars says you can’t hang on to the late, great Steve Harrington for a full month. And don’t give me that ‘we’re not together’ bullshit, because I don’t believe you.”

“Four hundred dollars?” Billy close-to-scoffed. 

“Yeah. Hundred bucks a week.” Heather tilted her head like she did when he got like this. “I know you have the money.”

Pride was a deadly sin, right?

“Fine, you’re on.”


End file.
